Cameroon is another relatively unknown country in Africa. We hardly hear anything about it and in this case it is mainly because the political situation in the country is very stable, unlike many other African countries. Cameroon also has a stable and diverse economy by African standards.
Political History
Initially Cameroon was colonized by Germany, but after the First World War the colony was divided into French and British parts. The country gained independence in 1960 and has been politically very stable since then. To this day, it has had only two presidents: Ahmadou Ahidjo, who voluntarily gave up his position in 1982, and Paul Biya, who continues to lead the country to this day. Ahidjo gave up the presidency in 1982 without explanation, but proved to be an important power factor in the following two years. Biya became interim president in 1982 and there was an angry power struggle between the two men, which was ultimately settled in Biya’s favor. Although the presidents have at times governed the country in an autocratic manner , they have kept the peace and prevented political chaos, which is commonplace in neighboring countries. The economy has grown strongly and is very diverse. The Democratic Rally of the Cameroon People (RDPC), Cameroon’s leading party and President Biya’s party, has been in control since independence. Although there are opposition parties, they are so divided that they are not a significant factor.
Geography
Located in central Africa, Cameroon borders Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon to the south, the Central African Republic to the east, Nigeria to the northwest and Chad to the northeast. Furthermore, the country borders the Gulf of Biafra, part of the Atlantic Ocean. Cameroon shares Lake Chad with Chad. The landscape is very varied, with tropical forest, mountains and savannas.
Language and culture
There are around twenty million Cameroonians (2012), who are generally very young. French and English are the official languages of Cameroon, a result of its colonial history, but there are more than 24 different language groups spoken by different ethnic groups, which can be divided into more than 230 languages, 55 Afro-Asiatic languages, 173 Nilo-Congo languages and 2 Nilo-Saharan languages. Furthermore, the religious distribution is: 40% Christian, 20% Muslim and 40% different indigenous religions. There are more than 200 different ethnic groups in Cameroon, including the so-called Cameroon Highlanders (31%), Equatorial Bantu (19%), Kirdi (11%), Fulani (10%), Northwestern Bantu (8%), Eastern Nigritic ( 7%), and 14% other groups. The country is striving to become bilingual, but in practice there are few people who speak fluent French and English. Pidgin English, also known as Kamtok, has been widely spoken since 1880, which can be seen as the lingua franca of Cameroon.
Economy
Until the end of the 1970s, Cameroon was economically dependent mainly on its agriculture; rubber, cotton, cocoa, coffee and bananas were exported. Livestock farming, fishing and forestry are also an important part of the economic process. Oil was discovered in the late 1970s. And since that time, oil has been a very large source of income for the country. Cameroon’s economy is very diverse, especially for an African country. However, this does not alter the fact that Cameroon also has serious problems, such as large differences in incomes and corruption.